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This guy will definitely have trouble at a few Japanese onsen. Photo: AFP via @daylife.

Getting tattooed after 40 is bound to get attributed to a mid-life crisis, but I'd been thinking about getting a particular one for a couple of years now, and I was tired of being that guy - the guy with one tattoo. It's in for a penny, in for a sleeve when it comes to getting inked, and screw the haters; let he who is without mortal fears post the first snarky comment. But my recent session under the needle had me thinking about implications beyond the opinions of others.

How will this impact my ability to travel?

Most obviously, I've complicated any future trips to China with my new Tiananmen Square tank guy tattoo. It's long sleeves or a phone call to the U.S. embassy when I finally get around to exploring the world's most populous country. I'm probably making a mistake writing about it now. I've just written "Tiananmen Square" in this post, along with the phrase "tank guy." There, I've done it twice. No way this ain't getting flagged. (I can't wait to tour your beautiful country and spend too much money during my visit, Mr. Chinese Government Internet Monitor.)

Then it dawned on me: I might have chosen one of the only tattoos guaranteed to create problems in both China and Japan.

There are some countries run by fundamentalists where certain religious tattoos can get one into hot water, but there's only one country in the world where all but the smallest tattoo is almost certain to keep you out of hot water. Two of Japan's cultural traditions clash in many of the country's thousands of onsen, or hot springs - the time-honored tradition of soaking in the volcanic waters, and the tradition of getting huge badass tattoos among Japanese yakuza. So most onsen proprietors forbid anyone with tattoos from entering the shared hot baths, presto change-o, no gangsters.

Although as tattoos have become much more mainstream around the world, and even among Japanese youth, many of the country's hot spring facilities are beginning to recognize the difficulties of this exclusionary policy. Some onsen allow visitors to tape up their ink, others let it slide if you're gaijin, while still others have dropped the anti-tattoo policy altogether. There are even hot bathhouses where tattoos have never been a problem - of course, many of these cater to a clientele that is almost guaranteed to have more ink than you do.

That doesn't mean that tattooing is enjoying a new level of acceptance in mainstream Japanese society. The mayor of Osaka last year forced more than 100 government employees to have their tattoos surgically removed or find work elsewhere.

If you're planning a trip to Japan, have tattoos, and want to know more, I highly recommend this 2008 piece from The Atlantic, written from personal experience by Charles Mann. And if you're worried about the policy at a particular onsen before you book a stay at a mountain retreat, it's best to call or email ahead of time to ask about their policy.

For those of you with tattoos of images that are officially banned in certain countries, I'm the wrong person to ask. Cover it up, and hope for the best at customs.